Hello all,
Wanted some advice as I have just been accepted into the Chicago Marathon in October. My first marathon and I have a conservative goal of breaking three hours which I believe is attainable.
Have been hitting 60 mile weeks consistently for about six months now and am in the best shape of my life since high school. I have stayed relatively injury free and played it smart as I have sprinkled in my easy runs 2-3 says a week plus some tempos. Don't do much interval work these days.
My favorite distances are 8k and above and within the past six months I have run the following:
1600 meters - 5:02
3200 meters - 10:41
5k - 17:56
13.1 - 1:20:46
I have seen multiple training philosophies out there and have hit 14-15 mile long runs 1-2 times and month with an average long run of 10-12 miles.
Plan on hitting a couple 18-20 milers here in the coming weeks as the race is 8 weeks out. Any other training advice?
As far as strategy, my biggest fear is going out too hard and dying but I also don't want to dig myself too deep of a hole to where I need a huge negative split.
I am usually solid with pacing and understand that most VDOTs say that sub 2:50 is attainable but wanted advice from those with marathon experience.